Move to Protect 25 Statues of Colonial-Era Figures in Sydney Rejected

On this year’s Australia Day in Melbourne, a statue of Captain James Cook was sawn off at the ankles.

A statue of Major General Lachlan Macquarie stands in Sydney's Hyde Park on August 29, 2017. William West/AFP via Getty Images

A One Nation Party MP in NSW has seen her attempts to protect the state’s historical statues rejected by Heritage Minister Penny Sharpe saying enough protections were already in play.

NSW One Nation MP Tania Mihailuk, formerly of the Labor Party, took her case to protect 25 effigies of figures involved in the colonisation of Australia, by moving them under a state heritage register.

The move to protect the statues comes after a statue of early explorer Captain Cook was sawn off from its ankles by anti-Australia Day protestors weeks earlier.